


The Wordless Singing of the Heavens

by Island_of_Reil



Category: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: Astronomy, Gen, Post-Canon, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 14:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6055528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Island_of_Reil/pseuds/Island_of_Reil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maia studies the stars with Vedero, Aizheän, and his First Nohecharei.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wordless Singing of the Heavens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [farevenasdecidedtouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/farevenasdecidedtouse/gifts).



> Hey, farevenasdecidedtouse! I was going to write you something for Chocolate Box featuring Maia and Vedero, but... it didn’t come out as being about their relationship, even though she’s integral to the scene, so I didn’t add it to the collection. But, since you inspired it, I’m gifting it to you.
> 
> The Seven are the stars of the Big Dipper (inspiration from [Central Asian astronomy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dipper#Asia)). Cstheio = Alioth; Anmura = Alkaid; Salezheio = Mizar; Ulis = Dubhe; Orshan = Megrez; Osreian = Merak; and Csaivo = Phecda. The title was inspired by this sentence from the novel: _He breathed into this deeper rhythm, let it teach him a new mantra, a wordless mantra that waxed and waned, ebbed and flowed, moon and stars and clouds, river and sun, the wordless singing of the earth beneath it all like the world’s own heartbeat._

“Your turn, Serenity,” Vedero said, passing Maia the unicorn’s horn. The close quarters of her rooftop were not as cozy in early summer as they’d been last winter — especially with five instead of four, no matter how small the fifth might be. But the night breeze was fresh as it stirred his curls around his tashin sticks and billowed the three-quarter sleeves of his thin shirt. He could smell the tang of fresh sweat on Beshelar behind him, rising up through the harshness of the kitchen soap he washed with; and Cala’s scent of herbal soap, dust, and a streak of ozone. Nothing as revealing as perspiration or magic came through the crisp sage and lavender of Vedero’s perfumed oils. Aizheän Tativin, the top of whose head barely reached Maia’s shoulder, seemed not to smell like very much at all.

The engravings of her telescope pressed cool against his palms as he gazed upon the almost-square of stars and the three in train behind: the Seven. The Bright Lady herself stood at the front of the train; Anmura, mindful that he was but a guest in the night sky, at its rear; and between them Salezheio, who had watched over Csevet when he was young and vulnerable. Far to Cstheio’s other side was Ulis, who ruled the evening heavens with her. Between them they shepherded Orshan, she who was so thoroughly of the earth, that she might feel safe in this unworldly realm. Osreian likewise guarded the earth, but she also brought disaster, and so she was made to stand far from the rest. And at the lowest point of them all stood Csaivo, seeking her level as did the rivers she watched over.

Akhalarna was not among them, of course; he had forsaken the night sky for the stony ground of Valno. And neither was Chevarimai. Maia had heard tell, though, that his worship had survived suppression, and the followers that remained were bold enough to arrogate to him the Star of the North.

He did not raise the scope to regard that star; rather, he focused it on Cstheio Caireizhasan, a diamond among pearls. There, seemingly right before his eyes with only the glass of the lens between them, it was so easy to believe she could hear him, see him, know him…. and, at the same time, so impossible.

“Serenity, have you heard or read the pronouncement by Mer Stadanar, at Ashedro, on the nature of stars?” Dach’osmin Tativin said softly. “He writes that they are enormous spheres of exceedingly hot gas which cohere by the grace of their own gravity. They radiate all manner of energy, releasing it from their bodies as they die, and that energy is the reason for their brightness.”

“Stars can die, Dach’osmin?” Maia asked with a note of surprise.

“Yes, Serenity. But they live and burn for countless elven, or goblin, lifespans before they die. Dachensol Habrobar’s ancestors saw, more or less, the same stars that we all look upon tonight.”

Maia did not answer her. As his mother had said many times, one did not ask Cstheio Caireizhasan for mercy or protection, but for clear vision — not always the most welcome gift, but often the most priceless, harder earned than pearls or even diamonds. _Wilt still be there, Lady, long after mine own descendants have vanished from the earth?_ He would never have the answer to that question, he knew. Still, he smiled softly; what else can one do in the face of the gods’ ironies?

Then he half-turned that he could pass the telescope to Beshelar, who started with mild surprise and whose stony face was briefly transformed into that of an eager child.


End file.
